Pages

Monday, April 12, 2010

Google's Automated Search Query Capture

It's known that Google takes preventative measures to reduce automated use of their search engine. In fact, Googles terms of service restrict the use of automated queries. Normally human users with real browsers will not be suspect of such use and thereby should not trigger firewall rules that detect queries that appear to be automated.

However I found myself in just that position. After running several varied queries, I came back to running the repeating a past query (through the browser drop down query history) and received the following:

I suspect this was triggered by my complex query, retrieving multiple pages or results, and repeated usage in a short period. Google knowledge base on this topic suggests that users that have this problem may also have a virus or other spyware on their computer or another in the network.

Hi Scorcher, A couple possibilities come to mind: 1) You might be on the same network as another person that is abusing Google in some way, 2) you have some malware on your system that is bombarding Google in some way, 3) corollary to the last point is that you're running an automated tool that queries google like Web Position or the like.

You might be able to figure out if it is one of the last two possibilities, however the first, a shared connection, may be difficult to establish. If you're connecting on a wifi, there's a good chance that you might be on the same network as some unscrupulous user.

Obviously squats, but I could now also load the bar around the rack and do standing calf raises, barbell lunges, military press, dips (working with the dip handles) and in all probability quite possibly the most surprising chin-ups.